


Friends, Lovers, and Snickerdoodle Santas

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Meant to Be [29]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 01:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1670324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I'm wearing this dress because I knew it would make you smile.  I'm wearing it because it makes me smile.  Despite some setbacks, I am a really adorable pregnant woman.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends, Lovers, and Snickerdoodle Santas

**Author's Note:**

> As with most of my AUs anyone from the past 9 seasons can show up just because I feel like it. I love this pairing. I love this pairing so much I wish they were canon but they're actually all mine and sometimes that's even better. Mad love for the people who actually enjoy these stories.

Lizzie Evans grinned, taking the large tray as she opened the door to the police station.

“You just want the cookies.” Jessie said.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“What did your dad bake?” Lizzie inhaled the sweet smell. “I know this smell…it’s one of my favorite smells in the world.”

“Sugar Christmas trees, snickerdoodle Santas, and some gingerbread houses with icing.”

“Sweet.”

“They're for everybody.” Jessie laughed as they walked to the reception desk. “He made three dozen so I know everyone will get at least one. I hope everyone will.”

“I call dibs on a snickerdoodle Santa.” Ronnie Bale took the tray, carefully removing the Saran wrap. The smell of cookies filled the entire room. It was only a matter of time before every cop on duty came running.

“Do I smell cookies?” Bill Hightower walked into the reception area. He had been on the back checking on people in the holding cells. “Hey, Jess!”

“Hey.” She gave him a hug. “My dad baked cookies for the station. You should grab a gingerbread house before they're all gone. I remember they're your favorite. I also brought dinner for the holding cells. Katie said to bring three so I stopped by the diner. There’s Salisbury steak, fried chicken, and turkey.”

“Thanks.” Bill took the canvas bag. “How are you feeling? Man, you're pregnant.” He laughed. It wasn’t strange to see a pregnant woman; Bill had seen plenty. He'd just known Jessie his whole life and it was a little bit different.

“Yes I am, and I'm doing great.” Jessie smiled. “I'm gaining more weight but that’s normal so…have you ever felt a baby kick?”

“No, but I have had to dive into a ditch to avoid an IED. It couldn’t be worse than that, could it?”

“C'mere you.” she took his hand. Jessie laughed as she put Bill’s flattened palm on the left side of her expanding belly. “He was playing soccer in there today so just give it a second.”

“It’s a boy.” Bill asked.

“We don’t know; we want it to be a surprise.”

“Do you have a preference? Whoa, OK, I felt that…did you feel that.”

“I felt it.” Jessie smiled.

“How often does that happen?”

“About 150 times a day.”

“It’s more proof, as if you guys needed it, that women are badass.” Katie Cole said, smiling from behind the reception area. She had two kids at home.

“I didn’t need it.” Bill shook his head. He took his hand off Jessie’s belly. “That’s pretty cool, Jess. No wonder Chief walks around here like the luckiest man on earth. Good things are definitely coming his way.”

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I'm OK.”

“Great.” Jessie nodded. “Now do you want to give me the real answer? I don’t want to be brag, William Hightower, but there aren't many women in this town who know your eyes like I do.”

“Don’t say that too loud.” Bill lowered his voice. “All walls in this town have ears and eyes.”

“This is my I don’t care face.” Jessie smiled.

“Have you ever had so much going on and yet nothing at all at the same time?” he asked.

“Nope, don’t think so.”

“I'm really OK, Jess, I promise.”

“We need to catch up.” Jessie said, taking his arm as he tried to walk away. “And I haven’t talked to your mom in ages. She used to come to the diner every Sunday after church.”

“We’ve both been busy.” Bill said. “My nephew came to stay with us about four months ago and it’s been an adjustment. It’s like I'm raising a toddler now. And I thought war was hard. I had actually been considering…yeah, maybe we should catch up. A lot is happening but I don’t want to burden you.”

“Getting things off your chest with a friend is never a burden. Lunch.” She pointed at him. “Soon, I mean it.”

“You pick the place; you're eating for two.” He managed a smile.

“I’ll call you.”

“Alright. See ya later, Jess.”

He disappeared down the hall, most likely to the holding cell area. Jessie went behind the reception area, speaking to Katie, Ronnie, and Mark who were all working at their desks. She noticed that the Chief’s office door was open now so she just walked right in.

“Hey there.” Jessie greeted her husband with a smile.

“Hi baby.” Sam got up from his desk and wrapped his arms around her. “I think you might be more of a distraction to my officers than you are to me.”

“What do you mean?” she asked after accepting his hello kisses.

“Cookies?”

“Oh no, don’t blame that one on me. My dad has been baking for nearly a week. Christmas is only two weeks away and he’ll have done at least a dozen for every family in town soon. You know it’s his thing. He loves making people happy through food and eating. He was going to send you along some of the steak he's cooking tonight but Katie told me that you planned to leave early.”

“I was going to surprise you with a quiet night at home.” Sam said. She was still in his arms and he liked it. “Just you and I.”

“That would be so wonderful.”

“But…” Sam smiled as he squeezed her a bit.

“Well, once I found out you were leaving early I called Carolyn and asked her to reserve our favorite table.”

“Did you?”

“Mmm hmm.” Jessie nodded. “I thought we could both use a nice dinner out with some candlelight, handholding, and absolutely no talk of work or upcoming stressful family holidays.”

“The less we talk about upcoming stressful family holidays, the better.”

This would be Sam and Jessie’s second Christmas as a married couple. With both his mother and father gone, he spent the holidays with her family. Sam wasn’t overly fond of that. John Brooks was a great guy but his wife left a little to be desired. Plus, the less he saw of Haley the better. And her arrival home for the holidays was always treated as if the queen was visiting. 

Hotch was there every other year; he wanted to spend the day with his son and that was how they compromised. Better everyone suffer together than anyone suffering alone. Sam didn’t think Emily Prentiss was going to like that scenario much…she opted to spend the day with her mother. How bad was this going to be that Emily wanted to spend the whole day with Elizabeth instead of friends she loved like family? And Jessie was always somewhere in the middle, straddling the line between sweet, obedient, but slightly neglected child and just wanting to say to hell with the whole thing.

“Dinner out sounds wonderful.” Sam smiled as he kissed her nose. There was plenty of time to think about some of the crap to come. He didn’t plan on taking a night off so that could consume him. “Is that why you're wearing the most adorable sweater dress known to man?”

Jessie wore a purple sweater dress with black sleeves and a pair of black leather boots. It wasn’t her usual look but her husband loved her in everything. He loved her in nothing.

“I'm wearing this dress because I knew it would make you smile. I'm wearing it because it makes me smile. Despite some setbacks, I am a really adorable pregnant woman.”

“That’s what I'm talking about, baby.”

“After a lovely Italian meal,” Jessie played with his tie. “I think we should go home and find a delightful way not to talk at all.”

“Is this the part where I make an unsavory, but still pretty funny, joke about eating?”

“No,” she laughed. “We’re good right where we are. You gather up your things and I’ll go out here and talk to Charlie about the Detective’s test.”

“Charlie’s shift starts at seven so I don’t know if she's in yet.” Sam let go of his wife with reluctance. He always had to. “She's on seven to 3 a.m. for the next week; she drew the short straw. Bill’s working a double but I have his word that he won't be out in the field on the second shift.”

“Is Bill alright?” Jessie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean is he alright.”

“He hasn’t come to me to discuss anything being wrong.” Sam replied. “Ever since he started here, Bill has had no problem taking advantage of my open door policy if he needs to. Leigh’s issues have been well discussed, which is the Newberry way, but Bill is a good guy. He’s a great son, brother, and cop. So yeah, I think he's alright.”

“OK. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“I’ll be right out.” Sam winked at his wife as she left the room.

***

Delizia wasn’t crowded. It was rarely crowded but the small bistro did alright. There were great wood paneled walls with beautiful Italian art hanging on them. Italian singers like Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti, and of course Dean Martin would croon on vinyl for lovers to enjoy. Sam loved the place because it always smelled so good. He preferred an intimate atmosphere when out with Jessie. 

In a place like this it was so easy to pretend they were the only two people in the world. Carolyn Rossi, who opened the restaurant nearly a decade ago, came to the table to make sure everything was to their liking. Sam had to give the thumbs up because his mouth was full of five cheese and meat lasagna. Jessie fell in love with her lobster and crab farfalle with spinach.

“You asked me about Bill earlier.” Sam said, swallowing and taking a sip of wine.

“Yes.” Jessie nodded.

“Do you two know each other well?”

“Everyone in Newberry knows each other well, Sam, even if they don’t want to.”

“It’s just sometimes I forget I was three years ahead of you in school. What was Bill, two?”

“Just one. And we were friends. He played lacrosse; all the sports-oriented kids kinda stuck together. Hormones were coursing through our veins and everyone was pairing off. Bill and I did the dating buddies thing.”

“You dated Bill Hightower?” Sam was surprised to hear that. 

As deeply as he loved Jessie and as much as he knew about her, he didn’t know everything. There were years when they were apart; weren’t even living in the same city. She’d been on dates, had boyfriends, and had a life before they were ever together. Sometimes Sam imagined they had always been together but that wasn’t really the case.

“We were just good friends.” Jessie replied. “Neither one of us wanted that pressure; there was enough pressure. So we just hung out with each other so people would stop asking when we were gonna pair off with someone. I took him on my junior and senior prom.”

“Really? Wow, I had no idea.”

“My dad has a picture of us in his study. Mom didn’t put any of the big pictures up on the wall. I hated to think she was prejudiced, my best friend was black after all, but with Mom you never know. Bill looks great in the senior prom pic too. He was fresh out of boot camp and got to wear his Army dress clothes. 

“All the girls were so jealous.” She smiled thinking of the fond memories. “I'm just a little worried about him, that’s all. I know how hard he works and looks after his mom. Leigh has always had a lot of problems and it weighs on the family. I was just checking up on him.”

“Well I will leave the checking up to you.” Sam said. “If I ask now I'm sure Bill will suspect you said something to me. I don’t want him thinking we’re talking behind his back.”

“I’ll nail him down soon. Surely Dad has some cookies to deliver to Mrs. Hightower so I’ll get over and see her too.”

“You're a good friend, Jess.” He reached for her hand. “Bill is lucky to have you. I'm lucky to have you.”

“Cue the sound of our friends gagging in the distance as we’re about to get annoying cute.”

“We should toast to that.” Sam held up his wineglass.

“You mean to being annoying cute.” Jessie drank ginger ale but held hers up as well.

“Yes. You and me, annoyingly cute, forever and ever.”

“Hear, hear.”

***

Bug was waiting at the door, leash in mouth, when Sam and Jessie walked into the house. Dam just laughed as Jessie shook her head.

“I let him run around the side yard before I came to pick you up.” She said.

“I’ll take him for a walk around the block. It’s chilly out; he won't want to go much farther.”

“It’s freezing out.” Jessie corrected him.

“We’ll be quick, I promise.” Sam kissed her cheek.

“Alright. Well while you're doing that I'm going to relieve my bladder for what might be the 300th time today. Then I’ll slip into something nice to end our evening with.”

“You hear that, Bug? I can't stay out to long…there are manly things for me to attend to.”

The mutt barked and wagged his tail. Sam took the leash from his mouth, attaching it to his collar.

“Fifteen minutes tops.” He said as he walked out the door.

“See you when you get back.”

It was cold outside but Bug didn’t seem to mind. He was an active dog, taking off at a trotting pace as soon as they hit the sidewalk. Some snow had started to fall but Sam had survived enough New Hampshire winters to know it wasn’t the kind that could stick. Still, this wasn’t weather anyone would want to be in for a long period of time. A car slowed down as it came down the street. Sam recognized it immediately as Nathan Harris’ nearly souped up hooptie. As he rolled down the window, Sam also saw Ashley Seaver in the car.

“Hey Chief Kassmeyer!” they both shouted.

“Hey you guys. Where ya coming from?”

“The bowling alley.” Ashley replied. “It was neon bowl night. I got straight A’s so my dad let me go out on a school night.”

“Congratulations.” Sam smiled. “How did you do Nathan?”

“OK enough not to be on punishment for the rest of forever.”

“I know you can do better than that. Keep hitting those books, young man.”

“I will. See ya.”

Sam waved at the kids as they moved down the street. He turned at the Chestnut Street intersection, Bug was walking a little faster. He peed by a tree. Then he made sure that a fire hydrant was in no way disrespecting him. At the next corner he made friendly with Mrs. Walker as she walked home with her grocery bags.

“Do you need any help?” Sam asked.

“I'm just fine, Chief, I got this. You go on home and get out of this cold.”

“Yes ma'am.” He nodded and smiled, continuing on his way.

Three steps from the house Bug dropped his #2 and then stepped in it. This didn’t please his owner. Sam cleaned up and then gently washed Bug’s back paw off with the hose in the front yard. Jessie would’ve been very upset if he traipsed that through the house. Bug walked around in circles on the porch for a few minutes, shaking off his wet paw and getting just a little more air before turning in for the night. 

Inside, Sam closed and locked the front door. He walked into the den to make sure the sliding glass doors were secure and then into the kitchen to check the back door. Bug was by his side, his second in command. After turning the alarm on, Sam went up the stairs and into his bedroom. Jessie was in bed reading a magazine. She wore pajama pants with Santas on them and a white long sleeved pajama top.

“Hey.” Sam smiled. “I have to say that I like this outfit very much.”

“I thought we’d try a little something different tonight, Chief.” Jessie knew he wasn’t being sarcastic.

“I like new things.” He nodded.

“You come to me mostly naked and we see where the evening takes us.”

“Bug…loveseat.” Sam started to unbutton his shirt. He knew exactly where he wanted the evening to take them. The faster they got started, the better.

***


End file.
